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**I apologize for not posting much. I was busy surfing and getting sick. 🙂 Enihoodles, i feel like posting something today, which bodes well for today’s article.

My friend Iya has been going to the Offbeat Cafe more times last month (and this month) than I’ve seen her, which tells you 1) she must like the food, 2) i’ve been sick and 3) we’ve been busy.

She blogged that the Offbeat cafe features a Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger they call the Offbeat Burger. And anything with Krispy Kreme is a go for me! I’ve been on a one KK donut/month quota for the last 5 months.. so not having had my KK for this month… I wanted to go try the burger.

What is an OffBeat Burger? To quote from their fb page…

“The now famous OFFBEAT BURGER…juicy all-beef patty sandwiched between Krispy Kreme Donuts, topped with bacon, egg and melted cheese. Not for the faint of heart!”

the offbeat burger and the bread pudding

In my head it makes sense, the sweet KK donut balancing out the salty components.

So I tried half a double-off beat burger yesterday (I shared with my friend kwe lo as I was on a diet.. ladi ladi da…)which consisted of half a KK donut, one egg, one patty, bacon and cheese. The sides were supposed to be tofu chips. I didn’t get tofu chips, but I really didn’t care as I was there for the KK goodness and the whole salty-sweet combo action that I’m expecting to happen.

So I took a bite and we fast forward to I finished the whole thing.

Verdict:

I like the concept. If you’re a fan of salty and sweet foods, you’ll prolly like this one off the bat, the contrast of the Krispy Kreme donut and the burger was pleasing to me.

I liked the taste of the patty, it was juicy and nicely prepared. The cheese was good and nicely melted.

As far as the other ingredients go, the egg and the bacon, I really didn’t think made a difference to the experience, although I did taste the additional saltiness of the bacon in some points, but then… the patty was already a nice salty component already. I don’t know what the egg was there for. It was nicely cooked though, if it makes a difference. Maybe it was supposed to add texture? but I really don’t think it did. Maybe taste? But I didn’t think it gave enough of an eggy taste to make it interesting enough to have a reason for it to be there. But let’s get this straight, the egg and the bacon didn’t hurt it either,I just wonder what they were there for.

But the main criticism I would have was that the burger really was asking for some acidity. I kept thinking either lettuce and a tomato would be welcome as it would give it a different texture, and introduce some acidity. At one point, I debated whether to ask for some mustard but I decided to eat the burger on its own. (and i was hungry) . I did voice out these thoughts to my friends and they agreed with the tomato/lettuce addition. Iya didn’t think that the mustard would be a welcome addition, in my head it makes sense, but that’s just me. I even tossed in the idea of a white onion to add a spicy bite to the burger. I agree, some people would balk on a raw onion, haha! She gave the suggestion of maybe putting tomatoes, onions and lettuce as a additional optional side for people who would want it. That would prolly work.

So price wise, 220 bucks for a DOUBLE OFFBEAT BURGER (2 patties, 2 eggs, 2 bacon slices) is pretty cheap especially as you would know that a KK donut is almost 50 bucks already. So costwise, they’re giving us a good deal. And the patty is THICK.

If you ask me at the end of the day, I did enjoy the offbeat burger and I look forward to coming back, maybe asking for mustard or ketchup, and ordering one whole order of an Offbeat Burger for myself. I now think to myself that maybe I would understand the bacon and the egg more if I had the whole KK donut, not just half… hmm… or maybe that’s just an excuse to eat KK again.

Oh, i’d have to add that my friend Iya had issues about getting a soggy bottom bun at her first try. The bottom bun/donut did become soggy, but what can you expect? the stuff sitting on top of it were heavy and dripping juices. The soggy thing didn’t really faze me as I just thought of it like bread mopping up juices. I would suggest that you come to the cafe with an open mind and don’t think of it as a burger per se, but as a salty-sweet meal, and you’d be much happier.

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Other things in offbeat:

After the meal though, I had the bread pudding, which I liked. I don’t really expect much from bread pudding so I was pretty happy with what I got. I tasted cinnamon, it wasn’t too sweet, the chocolate sauce and the ice cream were nice. Texture wise, I liked it too. I’m not a fan of bread pudding that reeks of too much egg, it tasted like soft cinnamon flavored bread with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. For 75 pesos, it was better than some bread puddings that i’ve sadly tasted some of which cost me almost 200 bucks in Makati, and so I liked it! But unlike Iya, no it didn’t remind me of Cafe Juanita’s Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Oh, and as an after dessert treat (don’t judge us) we had the chilli fries (french fries with a cheese dip on top and chilli) which Iya and I liked and finished pretty fast too.

Iya also had the chicken parmigiana. She finished the whole thing. I didn’t want to taste the chicken, but I tasted the pasta. I wished they had a dish that I could only order the pasta without the chicken, as I wanted some pasta!

The menu is limited, but as apparent above contains pasta, appetizers, other sandwich options and dessert!
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In a nutshell:

The main issue one would have about the Offbeat cafe is that it’s kinda out of the way, so unless you live in Vito Cruz Ext, you’d really have to make it a point to go there. But the novelty of the burger is enough draw to make it a point to eat there at least once, or in Iya’s case, more times than she has seen me last month.

My friend Kassy had an Easter Egg Hunting event and we were coerced asked to participate. So we did.

After being massively pressured about having to decorate a booth, (People who know me, know that I can make a mean cake, but I might be a little hesitant to decorate it, think back to the Cake Decorating with Fondant class wherein I made an clock instead of attempting to make flowery-type wedding cakes.) our booth looked awesome.

Thanks to my quick thinking and my mom’s propensity to keep stuff that might be useful, such as styrofoam flower and grass decorations.

Tada!!! I give you our booth!!

Not bad right?

In the end we enjoyed the event, although not a lot of buyers, so we have some left over!

It finally happened! I finally got my butt off to Pen-pen to try the crispy liempo–but wait, I really went there to try the pasta buffet.

So I thought it would be much harder to find, that is–the store, but thank you good directions and signages we managed to find Pen-pen.

So a quick rundown on the P250 Pasta All You Can Buffet, and my reactions.

Sauces:
– Meatballs – On its own it was just okay, but there’s little snippets of “suggestions” on how to eat the pasta/sauce that they call Karl’s way. I have no idea who Karl is but he knows his shit. I tried this sauce with Basil Oil and cheese as per his suggestion, and by far, it’s my favorite.
– Vegetarian – This actually tasted like Pinakbet, we’re talking pasta sauce with okra. It worked, I put some Kalamansi and I was good with it.
– Tinapa – This is also part of my top 4. Solid taste. Although not much tinapa essence, tasted very tomato-ish, but I liked it.
– Aligue – If I didn’t have to watch my weight, i’d have gorged on this one. Who can freakin’ go wrong with Aligue on their pasta?? Plus the upside was the aligue was very good, not slimy or too rich (owwwwsss.) adding a touch of calamansi, and it’s great!
– Carbonara – It had ground something, maybe it was pork. I’m actually not 100% sure on this, but isn’t carbonara supposed to be only with ham/bacon? Hmm, but it actually tasted good for a cream sauce, of which I’m not a big fan of.
– Bolognese – Normal, but still good.

You had 3 choices for pasta– penne, fettucine and spaghetti. I tasted all of the three, but I really just stuck with the penne, which actually was finished earlier than all the pastas and had to be refilled. I wish they’d have some tri-colored pasta or something, I would actually pay more for wheatbased or healthier pastas, and it could also be a draw to the more health-inclined diners out there.

The verdict is that if I would be in the same area, I would prolly eat in PENPEN just for the meatballs-basil oil experience again… oh and for this…

CRISPY LIEMPO
This was good. We had it with a nice vinegar and I could imagine myself gorging this into my mouth with handfuls of rice (okay.. bad visuals! haha!), yummy!!!

Also, my friend Doy who ate with me, had their fruity punch/iced tea concoction which he majorly loved. You can also have it bottomless and that just makes it more awesome!

PenPen Restaurant is found at Sgt Castor St, located at Morato. And the Pasta buffet happens every Tuesday! 🙂

Qoola is the big awesome looking shop that you find between greenbelt 1 and greenbelt 3. Proudly canadian, one of my friends, Kassy loves this place. So we tramped on to Qoola to try out their flavors

What I had:

Green Tea

Original

Raspberry

Toppings:

Granola

VERDICT

This place follows the concept of Tutti Frutti or did Tutti Frutti follow their concept? I dunno. All I know is that you self-serve your ice cream, and you pick your own topping and i’s weighed. This time though from P20/ounce, it’s P50/ounce.

I paid about 150ish for my 3 servings of yogurt and granola topping.

Let’s start about granola. I love granola, btw and the best ones I’ve tasted so far are from White Hat and Red Mango and now, Qoola. Just enough crunch, nice sizes and it really tasted good.

If you’re asking me about the worst is the granola, it’s in Lulu Belle—the pieces are too big.

The original yogurt was okay. It was cold outside but it melted pretty fast, so I guess there’s a lot of water in there, but not as much as tutti frutti thank god! I like the texture, very similar to white hat and to red mango. Taste wise, very similar to white hat.

For the other flavors, the raspberry was sour, like how it should be. Still the biggest fan of boysenberry from Golden Spoon though.

The Green Tea was my favorite. It tasted so good. Almost bordering on a fruity taste, but not quite. I will come back for that and that alone.

The other flavor that I didn’t taste was the White Chocolate Macadamia, but I actually came back the next day and a friend ordered that so I had a taste of it. It tasted like smoky chocolate. The macadamia had a nutty aftertaste (duh.) but I didn’t get any white chocolate, so for me that was a dud.

Plus points for this place is that the service staff were very helpful, they actually explained the concept nice to the people coming in, and over all, the place is very welcoming.

Although I must say, it looks so cool that if I was a normal Joe or Jane, I would be scared to go in. The decor looks high end, but that’s actually one of the nice things about it.

Oh, and add more tables and chairs outside, it’s greenbelt and you know how people love to smoke.

All in all, when I do hit greenbelt and I need a less fattening dessert, i’ll prolly go with Qoola.

Also, people get really scared when they see self-serve! I love it! don’t be afraid! go try it!!

Finally got to try Golden Spoon in Magallanes with Kassy after loads of tries. .

I ordered the ff:

Yogurt:

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter

Boysenberry

Old fashioned vanilla

Boysenberry

Toppings:

Yogurt chips – I love em, taste like chocolate

Cookie dough

Marshmallow cream

Verdict:

Texture wise : it’s comparable to white hat

Taste:

I don”t like the peanutbutter, there is something wrong with the aftertaste. Or maybe it was the cookie dough? No i think it was the peanutbutter, it felt weird.

The yogurt chips were a revelation. I love it. Reminds me of chocolate of course, without the GERD inducing effects.

Marshmallow Cream – i really didn’t taste it much, i just tasted sweetness. Maybe I will try this again with just the old fashioned vanilla?

Service

The service people were very nice, I asked them the best combinations and they gave me the “it depends on what you like answer” , which frankly kinda blows. I love it when service people have their own ideas on what tastes good, and even better if they say it like they really do love it. Think how the Starbucks barista’s recommend something, that way, that way is good.

Conclusion:

The Golden Spoon does not disappoint. One of my top 3 favorite yogurts in Manila. But I must definitely taste the other flavors and toppings as well.

1) Manila Toffee Co. – sells truffles, and toffees to our very loyale clientele in Makati and is newly starting out distribution in Alabang. And I love it. 🙂 My new obsession is to finally get to print boxes with the MTC logo, they will hopefully be black, gold and red. 🙂 aha! 🙂 visit our site: manilatoffee.multiply.com

2) Cake 33 is doing well, we’re also getting orders for brownies, but I stopped distributing in my home town, because I had no time, and we’re only selling premium brownies now. I really should start making my fondant but I’m a little caught up in #3.

3) FOOD CART! We’re opening up a food cart soon that we franchised in Las Pinas and I’m very sure, it’ll do great. I’m so trying to focus on that and still do the other two, and it’s working out great.

moi

My name is Joko. The age is late 20s, a culinary school graduate, i trained in pastry in one of the 5 star hotels in the Philippines, I manage a resort, and do some sort of catering on the side. I co-own a desserts business that sells in a store in Trinoma. I belong to an awesome food group, and I like to eat out a lot, usually at the same places, but I'm now trying to be more "adventurous".

I would probably be the laziest food blogger you can find, and I will most probably update most of this blog from the trusty phone.

If it doesn't look good in my camera phone, it might not be good. So don't kill me if the photos are bleh. We will work on getting our sh*t together and buy a camera. Patience is a virtue, and i know, time is gold. :)

So drop me a line, tell me what you think, or tell me if you have any brilliant suggestions on what and where I can eat or get a decent meal.

On a side note: I seriously wanted to drop the Chef part in the whole "undercover chef" but i've decided, I will stick to it until it galls me enough that I will cook something and sell it to the masses, be famous and be on tv.